Finally, a bona fide, genuine, hold-on-to-your hats Indian public transport experience, travelling on a public bus to Jaipur. It was a pretty uneventful experience really, and again I fail to see what the fuss is about. Yes, the driver could probably have benefite from actuall learning to drive and no, I don't think the bus was roadworthy, but the "If my vehicle is bigger than yours then you have to get out of my way" principle works pretty well when you're in a bus, and we were actualy half an hour early to Jaipur.

We had our first taste of south Indian cuisine today. We had 'dosa', which are essentially savoury pancakes with a filling, served with spicy sauces and dips.

We took a very local bus up the Amber Fort and an elderly woman tried to offer us her seat. Odd. I've been to at least 25 countries so far and this is the first time I've ever seen an elderly woman offer a seat to group of 20-something backpackers.

Aside from the usual stunning views, impressive location, detailed craftsmanship etc the fort, started 1600, has some unique features. The first is its dedicated 'concubine wing', with accomodation for over 300 concubines at the same time, separate from the rooms of the official wives (of which there were only a few dozen). The second is the enormous metal bowls used for mixing and serving Rajasthani battle-brew (opium and alcohol) to elephants in order to convince them to trunk-wrestle each other (because that's what you do if you're a normally docile pacaderm that's suddenly gotten drunk and high at the same time). The final one is dependant on neither ego nor blood-lust, as it is the languars (black-faced monkeys) that occupy most of the empty space in the fortress courtyards and on its ramparts.

Dinner ata secluded garden restaurant, punctuated by inexpensive high-volume beer and followed by an unfortunate game of table tennis resultedin my 'volunteering' to match Paul curry-for-curry the next day. He eats raw chillies.

Next day: cue 'exploring ourselves', cue 'where you from?' And cue lunch at LMB, which has more waiters than guests and a mercifully-medium jalfrezi.

We spent the first part of the afternoon at Jantar Mantar, one of Maharajah Jai Singh II's five observatories. It looks more like a modern art exhibition. The rickshawmen outside decidedto argue over who was going to get our custom. It was quite amusing really, especially when only one of them got a tip (personally, when a guy turns round and asks me to double the agreed fare that pretty much puts him on my bad side) and declined to share it with the others. For all the fuss, they still got us to the Hanuman (monkey god) Temple.

Having found public transport too mundane, we decided to walk back to the hotel. No mean feat in a city this size but, again, no big deal either. In keeping with national 'arguewiththerickshawman' day, the hotel owner was busy removing his neck brace so as to engage in hostilities with a driver, so we edged past to get a lift to the Raj Mandir cinema.

The cinema is huge - it fits over 1500 people - and is pretty-well stunning. Popcorn's cheap too. We say Bollywood hero Shah Rukh Khan in "Rab ne bana di jodi". Bollywood is big on audience participation - they cheer, they clap, they laugh at the notion of a married Indian man making his own breakfast. They actually doa very good job of letting you know what's going on even when you don't speak Hindi.

Rounded off the day by finally having something a little spicy, a laal mans with extra jalepenos and chilli sauce. Yum.